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Here’s the situation: you recently started a social media agency where you provide social media content creation, management, video creation and other online marketing services.
You decided to set your prices on the lower end in hopes of attracting clients but are now realizing that you should have set your prices higher, not only because you need more money, but because of the type of clients you want to attract.
The good news is that it’s never too late to raise your prices as long as you do it strategically.
So the question is…how much to charge for social media content creation, and how do you relay your new pricing to your clients?
Here’s what to do, step-by-step:
1. Know your worth
A lot of social media managers will fall into the trap of researching what their competitors are doing and then setting their prices based on the average rate.
This might seem like a good idea in the beginning, however; you are missing out on a crucial element when setting your social media prices: your unique value.
It will feel safe to charge on the lower end, but it’s not necessarily the best choice for the growth of your company.
You can figure out your “value” by answering these questions:
How many years of experience do you have as a social media manager?
Would you consider yourself entry-level? Intermediate? Or Advanced? Entry-level social media managers will have been in the industry for 1-5 years. Intermediate for 6-10 years and advanced 10+.
What kind of clients do you tend to attract?
Figure out what your “niche” is and keep that in mind when adjusting your prices.
Certain industries will have more money available to spend on special media. A clothing shop that sells 80% of their merchandise online will want to pour lots of money into social media content, whereas a restaurant will maybe have a smaller budget.
Are you targeting a certain industry? Are your clients coming from local businesses? Tech startups? Big corporations?
You risk coming across as inexperienced and untrustworthy if your prices are too low, so consider the wallet size of your clients and adjust accordingly.
What are you offering that your competitors aren’t?
We can guarantee that there is something about your social media company that sets you apart from the rest. Getting into that mindset of knowing your worth, knowing you are offering something different, valuable, life changing even, is the first step in raising your rates.
To find out who your competitors are, scope out companies who have the same number of employees, offers the same services, works in the same industry and serves the same “size” of companies (small businesses vs. large corporations).
Use their prices as a reference point.
Are you offering more than your competition?
Take a look at your competition and see how you compare in terms of true value.
Maybe your competitor only provides social media posts and management, whereas you offer social media posts, blog posts and videos.
Your client is paying you to get seen online, so it only makes sense that they would pay more to be featured on more platforms.
After you have answered these four questions, you should have a better idea on what your value is as a social media manager and how much to charge for social media content creation and management.
2. How to price your social media services on value
Now that you know your value, it’s time to set your prices.
This is the point where you will decide whether you want to charge hourly, monthly or project-based.
Hourly
$15-$50 per hour would be appropriate for someone with 1-5 years of experience.
$50-$100 per hour is often charged by intermediate social media managers and creators, whereas advanced creators can go all the way up to $350!
The good thing about working hourly is that you will always know how long a project will take, but the advantages kind of stop there. Hourly rates can sometimes make clients nervous because they don’t know how fast you work. It’s also difficult to scale our business at the hourly rate as you will only make as much money as you have time to work.
When you’re first starting out, charging hourly makes sense, but as you progress as a social media manager and gain more clients, you may want to switch to a monthly or package-based model.
Check out our pricing plan for an example of what social media packages can look at (note: we are a white label agency so our packages are priced for other agencies to resell):
Monthly
Charging a client monthly as opposed to hourly is a great way to start scaling your business and bringing more money in.
The way it works is simple. You charge your client at the beginning of every month for the work you will be doing for them whether that be a certain number of social posts, blog posts or a certain number of hours put into their social media management.
Think about how many hours it will take to complete their monthly services and then keep that total in mind when considering how much to charge for social media management monthly packages.
Project-based
Some companies want a large amount of work done over a short period of time. This is common when companies are launching and need a lot of marketing materials at once.
When deciding on your price for your project, consider the amount of hours it will take and research their industry to assess how big of a marketing budget your client is likely to have.
3. How to tell that it’s time to change your prices
As you progress on your social media management journey, a few signs will pop up that will tell you it’s time to increase your prices.
Here are some signs to look out for:
You don’t have enough to cover operating costs
If you no longer have enough money to cover your operating costs, then you definitely need to start charging more. You may have been purchasing new software programs or courses to increase your expertise. This is value you are putting into your company that needs to be reflected in your new social media pricing.
You’re thinking about scaling
If you’re starting to have the thought of, "Man I could probably use an assistant right about now,” or, “Maybe I should find someone to do all my writing for me,” it might be time to raise your rates to a higher level.
If you're an agency owner and ready to scale your social media services, consider partnering with a white label social media agency like MixBloom!
We provide high quality organic social media content, a dedicated social media manager and backup team, all of whom are native English speakers, and a dashboard white labeled with your branding, so you, your manager and your client have an easy way to manage, edit, and schedule content, all in one place.
Apply for your free 7-day trial today!
4. Some ways to increase your prices
So, you’ve decided to raise your prices and are totally clear on how much to charge for social media content creation but..how do you actually “do it”.
You might be wondering…if I raise my prices, what will my existing clients think? How do I seamlessly change my prices so that I don’t lose any business?
Here are our suggestions:
Change your pricing during a re-launch
A relaunch is the perfect time to change your pricing.
Let’s say you only had one social media management package that included a certain amount of hours and a certain number of original social posts each month and now you’re wanting to add two new packages that include more social posts and more hours.
This would be a great time to raise the price of your original package while adding another package that might give the client more value.
Increase annually
Be the kind of business that’s always changing their prices. You can offer a lower price during the slow months and then go back to your normal price during busy months. You can explain to your clients that because of these seasonal shifts, you need to adjust your pricing accordingly. Other businesses do it, so why can’t you?
Raise your prices when new clients come
Make this promise to yourself…every time you get a new client, you will bump your price up a little bit. This only really works if you don’t have your prices displayed on your website and are instead communicating your rates over an email or phone conversation.
Conclusion
The question of how much to charge for social media content creation is relative depending on your experience level, your client base and the size of your company.
Pricing your services too low might cause people to not take you seriously. On the other hand, pricing them too high can prevent you from gathering a solid client base.
Your price should make 50% of your clients go “hmm, that’s a little expensive” and the other 50% go “wow, what a great deal!”. That’s when you know you’ve hit the sweet spot.
We hope you enjoyed our article “How Much To Charge For Social Media Management (2024)”. Learn more about Mix Bloom’s white label social media services for agencies.
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